quoteIn Buson’s day, a lot of serious-minded haikai poets were closely associated with the sinophile intellectuals that helped give rise to the idealization of bunjin, particularly those poets who wrote kanshi. Among his fellow poets and friends, Miyake Shozan (1718-1081) and Kuroyanagi Shoha (1727-71) exerted great influences on him in broadening and deepening his knowledge of Chinese literature.

Shozan was known for publishing kanshi anthologies, and one of his most important works was his 1763 Haikai Selected Old Verses, an influential Basho Revival collection of verses that was modeled on one of the most greatest Chinese verse anthologies, Tang Selected Poems. Buson’s frequent use of imagery alluding to Chinese literature was in part due to Shozan’s influence.

1 comment:

[The following information is taken from "A History of Haiku: Vol. One," by R. H. Blyth (The Hokuseido Press, Japan, Third Printing, 1968), and "Haikai Poet Yosa Buson and the Basho Revival," by Cheryl Crowley (Brill, Leiden - Boston, 2007)]

Blyth states that Shozan was a doctor; Crowley, that he was "a pawnbroker by trade."

The visitor gone,Stroking the edge of the brazier,And talking to myself.

Of this last haiku, Blyth says: "This is a good example of the apparent triviality of haiku."

Crowley, noting that Shozan, in addition to being a haiku poet, was also a 'kanshi' (Chinese-style poetry written in Chinese) poet, points out that: "Interestingly, his haikai verses do not reflect overt Chinese influence. certainly not to the extent that many of Buson's do. Here are two examples:

kuragari no karei ni yosamu no hikari kana

faint darknessa flounder glintsin the light of the lingering chill

Oobaku no ren no karabi ya fuyukodachi

at the Oobaku templescrolls hang, witheredwintry woods

"Even the second verse, which alludes to the Oobaku sect of Zen---an important source of Chinese learning in the early modern period---uses the words 'Oobaku' and 'ren' as decorative and distancing. In other words, Shozan's haikai verses are not 'kanshi' written in Japanese. Despite his familiarity with Chinese literature in other contexts, in Shozan's haikai China is a source of romance and exoticism.".https://www.facebook.com/groups/326285114152188/permalink/1534045910042763/.